No, it's certainly not denial
Josh Marshall's column in The Hill comes as close as anything I can find to explaining the Bush administration's bizarre approach to the U.N. Bush is stuck in denial and anger, the first few stages of grieving over his failed Iraq policy, Marshall theorizes. The denial explains why Bush gave basically the same speech yesterday that he gave in November (I pity those forced to listen to his righteous monotone rendition of tired rationalizations, flag waving, and bromides. I made it through perhaps five words before I switched channels on the radio). And the anger explains the overall
tenor of the speech, as well as this childish incident
described in Slate:
The WP notes that the White House also took other opportunities yesterday to show off its diplomatic skills: "Just before [French President Jacques] Chirac addressed the assembly, Bush and his top aides—Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte—left the hall."
